I am very excited to share another photo shoot I did for my Beards of Tampa Bay project. Stephen was a lot of fun to work with and certainly had an epic beard.

Name
Stephen Fox

Where are you from?
Rio Grande, NJ

Occupation:
System Administrator

How long have you been growing your beard?
13 months! I remember the exact date, March 15th, 2015, because my buddy Rick got married that day.

What started you on this path?
I’d been growing my beard since Movember 2014 but became frustrated with it so I decided the wedding was a good time to make a change. After I trimmed back to stubble, it seemed my beard had a will to live again and I embraced it. I think I had to trim it back to really appreciate and enjoy growing a substantial beard. I’ve sort of stumbled into something I’m really good at: growing facial hair.

What is your end goal for your beard?
I hope to be a World Beard Champion. As far as beard goals, I want to grow my beard to the floor and down the hall.

What is the funniest experience or comment that has happened to you because of your beard?
I was eating at a restaurant in Ybor with friends, celebrating my yeard. Suddenly I notice there was a random guy next to me. He starts reaching for my beard and enthusiastically and profanely complimenting it. He helped himself to touching it before I really realized what was going on. Then quickly walked out of the restaurant to the street. This guy had seen my beard from outside and came in to get a closer look. It seems the bigger it gets, the more often people help themselves to touching it without my consent.

Any other funny or good stories from having a beard?
From people yelling compliments out their cars into mine to getting high fives from random strangers at the ATM or over the checkout counter at Walgreens, it seems funny things happen to me all the time because of my beard. It’s really a blast having a huge beard. I meet so many great people because of the beard. Even this photoshoot is a perfect example of that.

Any other comments?
Every man should grow a beard to their terminal length at least once.

Be sure to check out a few of the other Beards of Tampa Bay shoots that I’ve done so far: